Dad Yang Zhang finally buys house in catchment area for Milton Road Primary School in Cambridge after three-year search - but daughter is denied a place

It took a father three stressful years to find a house in the catchment area of one of Cambridge’s best-regarded primary schools - only for his daughter to be denied a place.

Yang Zhang, who has lived in Cambridge for a decade, viewed some 70 properties near to Milton Road Primary School and entered into bidding wars with up to 15 other hopeful buyers for about a dozen of them.

He finally moved his family into their Pakenham Close home just inside the school’s sought-after catchment area in September – paying £30,000 more than similar non-catchment houses just yards away.

However, despite living less than half-a-mile from the school his 4-year-old daughter Shuhui is without a place there.

Dr Zhang, a programme manager at a Cambridge Science Park company, whose appeal has failed, said the problems at Milton Road happen every year, but instead of being fixed, parents are put through the same arduous appeal process time and again.

After their exhaustive search, he said he thought it was “reasonable to assume” that living in the catchment area, their child would be able to attend the school with her friends.

The 34-year-old said: “We are very angry, disappointed and frustrated. I do not think the council is doing its job. This isn’t just one instance, it’s year after year after year.

“Instead of looking to improve the situation, the local authority’s response is there is nothing they can do about it. The obvious question to ask is why, if this is the case, we don’t see any action taken by the local authority to either improve the capacity [at Milton Road] or redefine the catchment area.”

There were more than 100 applications for just 60 places at Milton Road Primary in Ascham Road for September, which meant several children living in the catchment area missed out.

Dr Zhang’s child lost out on the “straight line test”, with families living closer to the school getting in ahead of them.

A spokesman for Cambridgeshire County Council said it had been in discussions with governors at Milton Road Primary to expand capacity.

He said: “However, physical restrictions at the school, together with concerns from governors about the educational impact for existing pupils if the size of the school were to increase, mean it would be difficult to provide additional places.”

On redefining catchment borders he added: “To be effective across Cambridge, any change to catchment areas would need to be made in collaboration with all schools to ensure that no child is left without a catchment school. The county council is not the admissions authority for all schools, so there is no guarantee that all schools would wish to make such changes.”